biotechnology timeline the history of using scientific knowledge and living systems as tools to...

Biotechnology Timeline

the history of using scientific knowledge and living systems as tools to solve problems or make useful products

Biotechnology Timeline

8000-4000 B.C.E.

Humans domesticate crops

and livestock.

Potatoes first are cultivated

for food.

Biotechnology Timeline

2000 B.C.E.

Biotechnology is used for the first time

when the Egyptians use yeast to leaven

bread and ferment beer

Production of cheese, fermentation

of wine occur in Sumeria, China, Egypt

Biotechnology Timeline

500 B.C.E.

Chinese use the first antibiotic: Moldy soybean curds for treating boils

Biotechnology Timeline100 C.E.

First insecticide:

powdered chrysanthemums

(China)

Biotechnology Timeline1797

First vaccination

Edward Jenner inoculates a

child with a vial vaccine to

protect him from smallpox

1830-1833

1830 Proteins are discovered.

1833 First enzyme isdiscovered and isolated.

Biotechnology Timeline

Model of a 5-peptide protein.

Biotechnology Timeline

1857

Louis Pasteur proposes

that microbes cause

fermentation. He later

conducts experiments

that support

the germ theory of disease.

Biotechnology Timeline

1859

Charles Darwin publishes

the theory of evolution

by natural selection.

Biotechnology Timeline

1865The science of genetics begins

when Austrian monk Gregor

Mendel studies flowers in his

garden to develop the basic

laws of heredity

Biotechnology Timeline

1868

The existence of DNA is discovered.

Biotechnology Timeline

1915

Phages — virusesthat only infect bacteria — are discovered.

Biotechnology Timeline

1919

The word “biotechnology” is used in print for the first time.

Image listed as creative commons taken from http://www.berkeleyside.com/2012/01/30/love-books-help-give-away-1-million-of-them/

Biotechnology Timeline

1927

Herman Muller discovers

that radiation causes

defects in chromosomes

(mutations).

1928

Sir Alexander Fleming discoversthe antibiotic penicillin by chancewhen he realizes that Penicillium mold kills bacteria.

He shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Ernst Boris Chain and Sir Howard Walter Florey.

Biotechnology Timeline1944

DNA is proven to carry genetic information

by Oswald Avery,

Colin MacLeod and Maclyn McCarty.

DNA model made out of LEGOs

Biotechnology Timeline

1953James Watson

and Francis Crick describe

the double helical

structure of DNA. They shared

the 1962 Nobel Prize in

Medicine or Physiology with

Maurice Wilkins.

Biotechnology Timeline

3D model of insulin

Biotechnology Timeline1958

● DNA is made in a test tube for the first time.

● Sickle cell disease is

shown to occur due to a

change in one amino acid.

1966The genetic code for DNA is cracked, demonstrating

that a sequence of three nucleotide bases (a codon) determines each of 20 amino acids.

Three scientists shared the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicinefor the discovery.

Biotechnology Timeline

Marshall Nirenberg Robert Holley Har Gobind Khorana

Biotechnology Timeline

1969

An enzyme is synthesized in vitro for the first time.

Biotechnology Timeline1970

Restriction enzymes that cut and splice genetic material are discovered, opening the way for gene cloning.

Biotechnology Timeline

1971

The first complete synthesis of a gene occurs.

Biotechnology Timeline

1973Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer perfect genetic

engineering techniques to cut and paste DNA using restriction enzymes.

(1977 sees the first expression of a human gene in bacteria.)

Cohen won a Nobel Prize in 1986 for an unrelated discovery!

Stanley Cohen Herbert Boyer and a recombinant bacterium

Biotechnology Timeline

1975

Georges Kohler and Cesar Milstein

develop the technology to produce

monoclonal antibodies — highly specific,

purified antibodies derived from only

one clone of cells that recognize

only one antigen. They later would

share the 1984 Nobel Prize in

Physiology or Medicine with Neils Jerne.

Biotechnology Timeline

1977

Genetic engineering is done for the first time, when the first expression of a human gene in bacteria occurs.

1981The first transgenic

animals are produced by transferring genes

from other animals into mice.

The first patent for a genetically modified organism is granted — for bacteria that can break down crude oil.

Biotechnology Timeline

Biotechnology Timeline1983

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, which makes unlimited copies of genes and gene fragments, is conceived.

Kary Mullis, who was born in Lenoir, N.C., later would win the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery. He becameinterested in science as a child when hereceived a chemistry set for Christmas.

Biotechnology Timeline

1986

First recombinant vaccine is approved

for human use: hepatitis B.

First anti-cancer drug is produced through biotech: interferon.

Biotechnology Timeline1987

First field tests of genetically modified food plants are approved, for virus

resistant tomatoes.

Biotechnology Timeline1990

The Human Genome Project — an international effort to maps all of the genes in the human

genome — is launched.

Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D.

Director, Human Genome Project

Biotechnology Timeline1994

Genetically modified tomatoes are sold for the first time in the United States.

Biotechnology Timeline1996

Sequencing of the baker’s yeast genome is completed.

Biotechnology Timeline1997

Scientists report the birth of Dolly, the first animal cloned from an adult cell.

Dolly (1996-2003) as an adult Dolly and her surrogate mother

Biotechnology Timeline1998

Human embryonic stem cell lines are established.

They offer hope to many

because they may be

able to replace diseased

or dysfunctional cells.

Biotechnology Timeline2002

Draft version of the complete map of the human genome is published.

Biotechnology Timeline2003

The SARS (severe acute respiratorysyndrome) virus is sequenced three weeks after its discovery.

SARS, which began in China, spreads quickly — and spreads fear throughout the Far East and the world. The last reported cases occurred in 2004 and resulted from laboratory-acquired infections.

Biotechnology Timeline2003

A far more precise version of the human genome—one that is

99.999%accurate—is published.

Biotechnology Timeline2004

The first cloned pet — a kitten — is delivered to its owner.

She is called CopyCat (or Cc for short).

Biotechnology Timeline2004

Avastin, a recombinant monoclonal antibody, is the first targeted

biological therapy of its kind to receive FDA approval

Biotechnology Timeline

2006

A vaccine against the human papillomavirus, which causes cancer of the cervix, receives FDA approval. The vaccine is made via recombinant DNA technology by inserting of the viral genes into the DNA of baker’s yeast. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grants Dow AgroSciences the first regulatory approval for a plant-made vaccine.

The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, in Winston-Salem, N.C., creates the first laboratory-grown organs by successfully transplanting bladders grown from a patient’s own cells. This method greatly reduces the risk of organ rejection.

Biotechnology Timeline2007

Scientists discover how to use human skin cells to create embryonic stem cells.

Biotechnology Timeline2008

Japanese scientists create the first DNA molecule made almost entirely of artificial parts. This advances the field of gene therapy and brings scientists one step closer to creating an artificial organism.

Biotechnology Timeline

2009

U.S. Congress frees up federal funding for broader embryonic stem cell research.

Canadian-owned Medicago produces the first plant-based influenza vaccine, in tobacco leaves. Medicago has built a manufacturing facility in Durham, N.C., to scale up production.

Biotechnology Timeline

2010

Researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute create the first synthetic cell.

Biotechnology Timeline

2011A trachea derived from stem cells is transplanted into a

human recipient.

Advances in 3D printing technology lead to “skin printing.”

European scientists begin clinical trials for an anti-HIV biotech medicine produced using genetically modified tobacco. This increases the potential for cost-effective HIV/AIDS therapy in the developing world.

Biotechnology Timeline

2012

The FDA issues draft guidelines for biosimilar drugs (follow-on biologics) as a growing percentage of biopharmaceuticals reach the end of patent protection.

Novartis, which has a manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, N.C., receives FDA approval for Flucelvax, the first cell-culture derived vaccine in the United States. 

Biotechnology Timeline

2013

The U.S. Supreme

Court rules that

naturally occurring

genes cannot be

patented.